Treasure Your Dreams

Texas Tech Football – “I Dreamt It in my Head”

I’m sure anyone who follows college football even the slightest bit has heard by now about the incredible last second (literally) touchdown pass from Graham Harrell to Michael Crabtree that led to the upset of the #1 ranked Texas Longhorns by the #7 ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders this past Saturday night.

What a game!

I had the privilege of sitting on the 50yd line with my cousin, who is a red-shirt freshman for Texas Tech, and to experience a history-making night of football. As I’m sitting here writing this tonight (now 2 nights after the game) my voice is still hoarse from screaming for the Red Raiders.

This is the most talked about season in Tech football history – for the first time in decades Tech is now 9-0 and ranked #2 in the BCS polls which puts them in reach of not only the Big 12 Championship, but the National Title as well. While there are many skeptics, I have to say I believe they can do it – and here’s why.

Visualization.

Let’s start back at the middle of this summer, in July, when the host of a local radio morning show began the countdown to “The Day Texas Tech Wins the National Championship!” – while it was predicted that we were in for a great season, it was by NO means predicted that we would make it that far. The radio station (home of one of the most listened to morning show in town) has embraced this countdown in full force — they have even composed a song (which they play on the radio every morning and usually several other times throughout the day) with lyrics such as “Texas Tech Red Raiders win it all, Texas Tech Red Raiders let’s win that crystal ball!” Needless to say, the radio host is not the least bit surprised that we are entering into the 11th week of the season undefeated.

This past week was the craziest in Lubbock I have ever seen. Over 1200 students spent the week in tents camping outside the stadium gates… news stations were broadcasting from the end-zone… billboards and commercials were seen all over the place promoting “BLACK OUT to BEAT TEXAS”… shirts were made by local retailers, sold out within 48 hours and made and sold out again – excitement was in the air, WINNING was in the air.

Of course, we were all skeptical. But we knew that this was our year – our game – we had as good of a chance at taking on #1 and winning as we ever had in the past. Everywhere you went you could overhear conversations about the upcoming rivalry game, and virtually all were positive.

Let’s jump ahead to Saturday morning, where the crew from College Gameday was broadcasting from Memorial Circle on the Texas Tech campus. This was their first ever visit to Lubbock, Texas and everyone was anxious to see who they would pick to win.

At the end of every broadcast Lee Corso brings out the head of the mascot of the team he has picked to win that day – as #7 going up against #1 we were definitely the underdogs, but he must have seen something in the faces of the fans and in the determination of the team to make him think we had a chance because lo and behold he brought out the head of Raider Red along with two pistols and fired them into the air as the fans behind him went wild!

Excitement continued to mount as the time for kickoff got closer – and by 6:30 the stands of Jones Stadium were black with fans who had shown up in their black-out shirts to cheer Tech on to victory. Never have I witnessed such electricity in the air of that stadium – not only was a new record set in attendance, but all 56 thousand+ of us were on our feet screaming for all 60 minutes. The noise of the fans yelling “RAIDER POWER” drowned out the noise of the announcer, and the only times his voice was understood was when the roaring crowd would join him in announcing another “RED RAIDER FIRRRRST DOWN” (which turned out to be quite often!).

Against all odds Tech led throughout the entire game – that is, up until the 4th quarter with 1:31 left to play on the clock when the longhorns scored the touchdown that put them ahead 33 to 32. Hearts sank and then rose again to pound in everyone’s throats – surely, after all we’ve done, we weren’t going to lose like this.

Tech fans have a reputation for giving up — for the stands being empty by halftime if it didn’t look like the red raiders were going to pull out a victory, or if it looked like victory was eminent. Not this time. Not a soul left from that stadium – for the last minute and 30 seconds every person was on their feet and, if it was even possible, that stadium became even louder.

The sound of the celebrating longhorn band was drowned out by “Fight Raiders Fight” blaring from the instruments of the Goin’ Band from Raiderland, chants of “RAIDER POWER” rocked the stadium and with each gained yard the excitement rose.

Finally, with 8 seconds left in the game, the Red Raiders needed about 10 more yards to put themselves into field goal range before calling their last time out to save the game. Apparently, that wasn’t going to be good enough. As the ball snapped Harrell hurled the ball towards the corner of the endzone where Michael Crabtree was scrambling to free himself of two Texas defenders. The ball flew into his hands as if powered by a magnetic force and Crabtree hurled himself out of the arms of the Texas defender struggling to pull him down. Keeping his feet merely inches apart in order to keep from falling out of bounds the Crab took one step and then another – yard by yard he seemed to effortlessly control his body in what appeared to be a super-hero like fashion as he stepped into the endzone and won the game.

The crowd went wild – fans rushed the field and the band belted out tunes of victory. I remember looking at my cousin, screaming, high-fiving, being picked up and spun around by a complete stranger and finally hurdling over the fence and onto the field to congratulate the Red Raiders on the biggest win in Texas Tech history.

In a post-game interview Michael Crabtree was asked to recap that trip into the endzone – his only words were, “I dreamt it in my head – and it happened!! I do that all the time but it happened – it kind of shocked me!”

That line was quoted in countless articles over the next 24 hours – the game was won because Michael Crabtree “dreamt it in his head”. He later went on to explain that he imagined catching a pass and running it in for the game-winning touchdown. He says he imagines things like that often, and all I have to say to that is do you think it’s a coincidence?

Michael Crabtree is the top receiver in the NCAA – although he is only a sophomore plans are already being talked about of him playing next year for the NFL. He is a local hero here in Lubbock, and has been now since the first couple of games of his first season with the Red Raiders. That just goes to show that talent mixed with “dreaming in your head” (aka: visualization) can really go a long way.

Texas Tech is getting ready to go through what announcers are calling “The Gauntlet” over the next few weeks – playing Oklahoma Sate this coming weekend here at home and then Oklahoma University at their home stadium. Some announcers are skeptical – others, think we can pull through. The fans though have never been more excited or more optimistic. I have yet to hear a negative word as to our fate for the rest of the season – tickets for the upcoming OSU game are selling on eBay for over $1500, and the announcement to “RED OUT” is making its way through the air and dreams of victory bells are playing in our heads.

I can’t say what will happen to the Red Raiders this season… but I can say that if I were you I would keep an eye on this team – and with every victory remind yourself to dream in YOUR head the things you want to see become a reality in your own life. When you dream it, anything is possible!